Angels

 I am sitting in the darkened living room watching that beautiful white stuff drifting down out of the sky.  It got down to 27 degrees last night and is now 30.  When I first looked out our windows, there was a covering of frost on all the rooftops and a light dusting out on St. Thomas Street.  Now the snow is coming down in great snowflakes and it looks like it is a for-real snowstorm.  

I shouldn't take such delight in it.  It IS mesmerizing. The news reports last night issued weather warnings for the whole island.  This weather will make it difficult for people.  Inclement weather is still one of the lesser worries here.  The conflicting reports of the new virus strain are troubling.  Boris Johnson said that there is some evidence that it could be more deadly than the original...instead of killing 10 out of a thousand, it is 13 or 14 out of positive cases of COVID. 

Our mission doctor began our mission call last night with more info about the virus as well as tips for staying healthy.  This week, we have 18 missionaries who have tested positive, and that means a large number of our missionaries will be in isolation.  Dr. Sumko talked about getting groceries delivered instead of going inside stores.  He said if you have to go in, wear a double mask and make sure that it is closely-fit to your face, to wear gloves, and to take a list, getting in and out as soon as possible.

After he spoke, Dave issued some new rules:  Missionaries are absolutely not to take public transportation, under any circumstances.  They are not to go to church for any meetings, even if their wards are holding meetings in person, The mission office will be closed until further notice.  If missionaries need to talk to either of the office couples, they are to call them.

In other news, our eight missionaries who were re-routed to England when they were refused entrance into Germany have all had COVID tests, and if negative will board a plane for Croatia Monday morning.  They will isolate there for 5 days, and then assist in earthquake recovery (along with other missionaries gathered for that purpose) for people in the area who are suffering.  After two weeks, they will be able to enter Germany and be assigned out to their various missions.

Each had a few minutes last night to bear their testimonies.  Once again, I was in awe as I listened to these eighteen and nineteen-year-olds speak.  They "attended" the mission training center from their homes via Zoom, they said their good-byes and took all their heavy luggage and boarded airplanes for Germany.  In Germany, they got off the planes and were immediately told to get back on.  They were flown to England, where they were each transported to various areas of our missions.  

Dave said that every single one of them is exceptional and he wished he could keep them.  For two weeks they have worked right alongside our own in teaching and finding people to teach.  They each cited scripture and living prophets as they bore their testimonies about faith and trusting in the Lord.  At age nineteen, I was not anywhere close to their level of gospel knowledge, much less have the ability the express it so beautifully and with such faith.

That coincided with our sweet Lauren arriving in Paraguay.  We watched for the announcement of the 21 missionaries returning to that country.  It was posted by the mission president's wife on Facebook.  When we read it and saw her picture, we tearfully prayed in gratitude that she is safe and sound there.  All these young missionaries embarking in faith to share the good news of the gospel leave me in awe.  They are an army of angels.  We prayed for angels to be with Lauren, to protect her - as well as protect all these young people.

Lauren is right of center in the golden tan dress.  It just tears at my heart-strings to see her among this army of good young people.  Of course she is!  Where else would she choose to be?

Today we will watch our stake conference and attend the young missionary meeting for newly baptized individuals and investigators.  It lasts a half hour and is always uplifting.  

I don't know how long it will last, but we will also watch this beautiful snow wafting down and silently covering roofs and yards and surfaces outside.  We will thank the Lord to be living in a warm and comfortable apartment and pray for all of those people now who are suffering in the cold or suffering with COVID, and we will pray for the angels who are sent to rescue - including our own missionaries.